IWA To Host Illinois Whitetail Forum

Thu, August 06, 2015

Illinois Whitetail Alliance will be hosting the first ever “Illinois Whitetail Forum” on Saturday, August 29th from 1-3pm at the Scheels sporting goods store in Springfield, IL. The “Forum” will be a consortium of outdoor organizations from around the state, IDNR officials and Illinois lawmakers discussing current issues with deer management in Illinois.

IWA will also be on hand at Scheels from 9am to 1pm to talk to hunters and answer specific questions on historical and current management data (if it becomes available).

The goal of the Illinois Whitetail Forum is to create dialogue between all of the outdoor groups in the state that have an interest in the whitetail deer herd. Each group has been busy, individually, working with IDNR the past few years. We’re looking to create synergies between the groups by sharing ideas and information, in hopes of presenting a united front with lawmakers and IDNR administration on simple changes needed with deer management.

Groups that will take part include Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources (IFOR), Illinois State Whitetails Unlimited (WTU), Illinois Bowhunters Society (IBS), United Bowhunters of Illinois (UBI) and Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) among others. Total representation of all groups combined exceeds 150,000 Illinois hunters.

QDMA CEO Brian Murphy said, “We applaud the Illinois Whitetail Alliance for hosting a forum to unite local, state and national deer organizations to address the challenges facing deer and deer hunting in Illinois. Only by working together we can ensure a bright future for North America’s premier game animal, the white-tailed deer.”

IDNR Director Wayne Rosenthal has assured me that IDNR staff will attend, and he hopes to be able to stop by himself if his schedule allows.

The IL Whitetail Forum is open to the public and is being held in conjunction with the Springfield Scheels Outdoor Expo. The Forum will take place on the 2nd floor of the Scheels store in the large training facility. The Scheels Outdoor Expo will feature in-store fall hunting sales, outdoor related vendors, a 3-D archery shoot, and daily competitions of DockDogs.

Seating during the forum will be somewhat limited, so get there early to get a seat!

Comments

We need to form the ICPOA and save our CPO’s jobs this year or the deer are definitely in trouble. Poachers will have a good year this year.